


Lift me from the ground

by IsabellaStarsAreEverywhere



Category: SKAM (France)
Genre: Additional Warnings Apply, Alternate Universe - Dark, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Boarding School, Drug Use, Explicit Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:41:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25319236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IsabellaStarsAreEverywhere/pseuds/IsabellaStarsAreEverywhere
Summary: Lucas is on the path towards self-destruction.  He doesn't care what pills he swallows, what drug he injects or what guy he's with. He just wants to feel numb and reach a place where there is no pain, grief or abandonment. A place where he can forget all of his problems.Unfortunately, Lucas can't stay in that place for too long. When his dad ships him off to a boarding school in the middle of nowhere, Lucas plans on taking his own life, instead he finds Eliott Demaury, and maybe life is worth living after all.
Relationships: Eliott Demaury/Lucas Lallemant
Comments: 30
Kudos: 115





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please take a look at the tags before reading this. I don't want anyone to feel triggered. This is my first Skam France fic, I usually write other pairings. Please let me know what you think in the comments. 
> 
> This story is pretty dark, but I want to turn that around eventually.

Eric is a really bad kisser. Like really bad. He’s all tongue and no finesse. Lucas almost wants to put his clothes back on and leave, but he doesn’t, because Eric might be awful at kissing, but he is really good at giving head and even better at fucking. So Lucas lets Eric kiss him, because it’ll lead to something better. After all, patience is a virtue. 

Lucas is half-naked and pressed up against the wall. The concrete wall scratches his naked back, but he doesn’t give a shit. This is his reward after a week from hell. 

They’re on the third floor. Everyone at their school knows what goes on at the third floor. Even the teachers, but they don’t care 98% of the time. Technically the whole third floor is under construction, and no students are allowed up there. But construction has been put on hold because of budget cuts, and that means that the entire third floor is basically a place for desperate students to hook up. The old music room with its scratchy walls, dirty floors and a funky smell that always lingers in the air is actually Lucas’s favourite place to be. 

Eric shoves his tongue down Lucas’s throat and Lucas has had enough. He’s put up with this shit long enough. Time to get to get to the fucking part. He quickly turns around, pulls his underwear down, his last piece of clothing, and now he’s completely naked, and he leans forward and rests his forehead against the cool concrete wall. 

“Yeah,” Eric groans and fumbles with his belt. 

“Get on with it, I only have ten minutes ‘til French class,” Lucas says harshly. To be honest, he doesn’t give a shit about French class, he hadn’t even planned to attend today’s class. French class is just an excuse to ditch Eric. Lucas just want a quick orgasm, not Eric’s long-winded version of foreplay. 

“Yeah, hang on,” Eric says and finally unbuckles his belt. 

Lucas fights the urge to roll his eyes. Kissing isn’t the only thing Eric sucks at, undressing himself is a struggle for him as well. 

“Uh,” Eric says. 

“What?” Lucas spins around and narrows his eyes at Eric. 

“Do you have a condom?” Eric asks sheepishly. 

Lucas can’t fucking believe the nerve of this guy. “I told you to buy some. I even texted you yesterday to remind you for fuck’s sake. I’ve bought every single condom that we have used so far.” 

“I’m sorry,” Eric shrugs. He places his hands on Lucas’s sides and rubs them up and down. “But we can go without. I’m clean.”

“Oh, fuck, no!” Lucas nearly shouts and removes Eric’s hands. “You’re not getting in me without a condom.” Lucas might be desperate to get fucked, but he’s not that desperate. He’s not exactly all about self-care and all that shit, but he does not want to catch something that could potentially ruin his sex life. God knows what Eric has stuck his dick into. 

“Oh, you think I have some sexually transmitted disease?” Eric spat out the question. “You’re the one bending over for anyone who’s willing to fuck you. I should be worried about getting something from you.”

“Fuck you!” Lucas shouts. The nerve of that asshole. All he had to do was buy condoms. Lucas hadn’t asked for any foreplay or any fancy dinner dates, he didn’t need flowers and shit. All Lucas had asked for was condoms and that fucker couldn’t even handle that. 

Lucas has had enough and starts to get dressed in a hurry. Eric quickly grabs Lucas’s shirt from the ground before Lucas has the chance to get it. 

“Come on Lucas, don’t be like this. You know that you’re just going to call me later,” Eric smirks and dangles Lucas’s shirt in front of him to taunt him. 

Lucas wants to punch him in the face. But he doesn’t. Eric is at least a foot taller than Lucas, plus Eric’s on the school’s football team and Lucas has seen him run fearlessly into guys and crush them. Lucas isn’t stupid, he’s not going to start a fight that he has no chance of winning. 

Lucas yanks his shirt from Eric’s hands, and it tears in the process, and that pisses Lucas off because that shirt is one of his favourites. 

“Go fuck your girlfriend,” Lucas says through gritted teeth. 

“I will,” Eric snorts, “You’re too much of a pain in the ass. You’re not worth it.”

Eric starts to gather his belongings that are strewn out all over the floor, he mutters something and uses the words “slut” and “whore” frequently. Lucas couldn’t care less. Just as Lucas was about to leave, he notices Eric’s wallet on the ground, partially hidden under some loose floor boards. Lucas smirks and quickly swipes the wallet while Eric is busy pulling a shirt over his head. 

With Eric’s wallet in his pocket, Lucas hurries down the stairs before Eric notices something’s missing. 

…….

Whoever said money couldn’t buy happiness had never walked into a bar with someone else’s wallet. 

Lucas was in one of the dingier parts of town, where the bars and restaurants didn’t really care about asking for ID. 

“What can I get you?” The bartender looks bored out of his mind, and he barely even throws Lucas a glance. 

“Vodka, mix it with 7Up,” Lucas says and places a few bills on the counter. In places like these you had to pay before actually getting the drink. 

The bartender mixes the drink and Lucas counts the bills in Eric’s wallet. It’s enough to get drunk and high. Jackpot. Lucas decides to stay away from the debit card because Eric could easily log into his internet bank and see where his card is used, and Lucas doesn’t feel like having an angry Eric show up and ruin a perfectly good moment. 

Lucas quickly fires off a text to Charles, his dealer, asking to meet up. Only seconds later Lucas’s phone beeps. Charles really offers some top quality customer service. Lucas fires off another text, letting Charles know the name of the bar where he’s at. 

Lucas downs the shot and the vodka nicely burns in his throat. 

“Another?” the bartender asks and looks at Lucas’s empty glass. Lucas nods and the bartender pours him another vodka and 7up. 

This afternoon is suddenly looking a whole lot better Lucas thinks and smiles. He looks at his phone before he picks it up and fires off another text to Charles. This time he tells Charles to stay put. Change of plans. Lucas asks Charles where he is, and tells him to wait for him there. Lucas downs his second drink. He’s going to find someone who can give him his daily orgasm. With Charles it’s always a party somewhere, and at these parties there were usually a lot of attractive guys. 

A cab ride later, Lucas is in an old warehouse by the docks’. Charles greets him with a smile at the entrance. They walk inside and the whole warehouse is buzzing with people, techno tracks and colours. The temperature is high, and the glide through the crowd of sweaty people who are lost in their own drug-infused little world. 

“Let me introduce you to some people,” Charles says and put his arm around Lucas’s shoulders as they walk into the back of the warehouse. “You know, every day could be like this if you came back to work for me,” he says into Lucas’s ear. 

Lucas says nothing as he allows Charles to lead him into a room in the back. There are few guys sitting on a couple of couches. One of the guys looks at Lucas and licks his lips. 

Twenty minutes later Lucas is bent over a sink, getting a ten out of ten, top notch orgasm from Antonio. Lucas is literally seeing stars, planets and fucking comets. Charles had given him some pills and they had kicked in fast. Antonio had taken the same thing and looked at Lucas and licked his lips again and one thing had led to another. 

Lucas lets out a loud groan as Antonio nearly pulls all the way out before slamming back in. “Fuck,” Lucas shouts and his whole body trembles with pleasure. His vision whites out and he screams out his pleasure. 

……..

It’s almost midnight when Lucas arrives back home. Lucas was still riding on a rollercoaster high of drugs and awesome sex. 

He spots his neighbour, Mrs Arpin, standing outside the apartment building with her little fluffy dog. Lucas feels sorry for that dog who has to live with Mr and Mrs Arpin. Lucas winks at her and blows her a kiss as he walks by her because he knows how much she hates it. Just as Lucas had thought, Mrs Arpin’s eyes nearly bulge out of her head. 

“You tell your mother to keep it down! She was moving around furniture for nearly four hours. I’m calling the landlord next time!” Mrs Arpin yells.

Lucas turns around and just smirks. “Do call him. I’m sure he’ll listen to whatever you have to say.” He makes a lewd sexual gesture with his hand. 

Mrs Arpin lets out a shriek. 

Their landlord was a horn dog and he was known to lower rent, or install a dishwasher or something if his tenants performed certain services for him. 

Their elevator has broken down again, so Lucas rushes up the stairs to the fourth floor. He stops outside the door and takes a deep breath before he starts to dig around in his pockets for his keys. His hands are shaking as he turns the key around and unlocks the door. 

His mother had deteriorated again. It all started a week ago. She started to hear voices, thought God was talking to her, and she started talking a mile a minute without making any sense. 

Lucas slowly opens the door and steps inside without really knowing what he’s going to walk into. Mrs Arpin hadn’t been lying. His mother had definitely moved the furniture around. There is a large bookshelf in their tiny hallway, and as he peeps into the living room he sees an armchair that has been tipped over, and their coffee table is pushed up against the door to the balcony. There are books strewn out all over the floor and Lucas steps over an encyclopaedia as he walks into his mother’s tiny bedroom that really is a closet that they have converted into a bedroom for her. 

Lucas feels relief wash over him as he sees his mother sleeping on top of the bed. She’s home. She’s safe. He quietly tip toes into the bedroom and places a hand on her chest to make sure that she’s breathing. She is. He can’t find her comforter, but he does find a thread-bare blanket and throws it over her. He shrugs his jacket off and gently wraps it around his mother’s small frame. 

“Good night mama,” Lucas whispers. 

He takes a deep breath before he walks into his bedroom. Fortunately his mother had left his bedroom intact. One less room for him to clean up in the morning. Lucas gets undressed and walks into the bathroom and nearly gasps when he sees his own reflection in the mirror. 

Antonio had really done a number on him. Lucas traces the red scars on his hips. It looks like an animal had used its claws on him. Lucas turns around and sees the fresh bruises on his back, arms and neck. Shit. He knows that there are some guys who gets too much energy and strength for their own good when they’re high, and this isn’t the first time a guy has used all of that strength and energy to give Lucas some impressive hickeys and scratch-marks. 

Lucas doesn’t like the bruised up look, but he had been too out of it to tell Antonio to stop. He splashes some water on his face, gargles some mouthwash and heads to bed. 

……

The loud shrill of his alarm is almost painful to his sensitive ears. Lucas hates waking up hungover. He turns off the alarm and sits up in bed. Yesterday’s events washes over him and he lets out a long groan. He really doesn’t feel like dealing with all of that shit just yet. He pads into their mess of a living room, and if that isn’t the biggest metaphor. Their lives are messy and now their living room only reflects that mess. He looks into his mother’s bedroom and sees that she’s still fast asleep. 

Suddenly school feels like a more appealing option than staying at home and dealing with this mess. Lucas quickly gets dressed, grabs his backpack and runs out to catch the bus. 

He almost makes it on time. His first class of the day is History and he opens the door to the classroom slowly and tries his best not to make a sound. He actually likes his History teacher Mrs Coard, and he gives her an apologetic nod as he walks past her. The class is full, but he does spot an empty seat in the back right next to Yann. Lucas freezes for a moment when Yann looks up and their eyes meet. Yann wordlessly removes his jacket that he has thrown over the chair next to his. 

Lucas offers tight-lipped smile before he sits down. Yann points to the bottom of the page in their History book to show Lucas which page they are reading from. 

Lucas nods and pulls out his own History book and turns to page 54. He catches Yann staring at him and it’s making him feel uncomfortable. 

A year ago it wouldn’t have felt uncomfortable at all. They used to be close friends. Used to. 

Memories of the two of them playing Fifa or watching movies together flooded Lucas’s brain. 

Then Lucas came out as gay. Yann hadn’t taken the news well, but he had taken a day to mull it over and came back and apologized to Lucas. They had hugged it out and their friendship had still been intact. 

Then Lucas’s parents got divorced. Actually Lucas’s dad had just left, he had walked out and hadn’t returned ever since. Lucas’s dad had loudly declared that he was done before he had walked out, and by done he had meant that he was done dealing with Lucas’s schizophrenic mother. 

And Lucas was left alone to deal with his mother who was a mess. Lucas had felt as if his head was about to explode on some days and when he needed some sort of relief he drank. He and Charles ran in the same circles and he knew that Charles sold cheap vodka and Lucas quickly became a frequent customer. Charles eventually stopped selling alcohol to minors and started to sell drugs instead to make a bigger profit. The first time Lucas swallowed a pill he was in heaven. He had no problems, no schizophrenic mother who depended on him, no asshole of a father who hadn’t even called Lucas to check up on them and the pain in his heart just healed itself. 

Yann had noticed that something was wrong right away. Yann had seen the dilated pupils in Lucas’s eyes. Yann had yelled at Lucas. Lucas hadn’t said anything. 

After that their friendship fell through. Lucas knows that Yann had only been concerned, and Lucas knows that Yann would’ve taken him to rehab and supported him through each and every step towards recovery. Because that’s who Yann is. 

Yann had been there for both Lucas and his mom after the divorce. He had comforted them both and he had even helped them move after the divorce got finalized and they could no longer afford to live in their old apartment. Yann had carried furniture up the stairs because surprise, surprise, the elevator had been broken back then as well. 

But Yann had refused to watch his friend turn into a drug addict. And just like that their friendship was over. 

Lucas knows that Yann thinks that he had chosen drugs over their friendship, but that wasn’t the case. Lucas had chosen to stay alive. Not for himself, but for his mom who needed him. And Lucas didn’t know how to live without the relief that the drugs provided him with. 

Lucas glances at Yann who is still staring at him. Lucas finally realizes what Yann is staring at. Lucas zips up his hoodie to cover up the bruises on his neck.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter two. Thank you so much for reading. Stay safe!  
> Please note that there is an added tag - attempted non-con.

As they are walking out of History class, Yann makes sure to walk beside Lucas. 

“Are you, uh, are you okay?” Yann asks and looks kind of uncomfortable as he makes a gesture towards Lucas’s neck. 

Lucas offers a tight-lipped smile as he nods. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Yann doesn’t look satisfied with that answer, but he nods anyways. “If you are abused Lucas, I want you to know that, uh, you can talk to me.”

Lucas clutches his History book closer to his chest. “Thanks,” he mumbles. 

Yann offers another nod. “I have to go, I promised Emma that I’d help her with her maths homework.”

Lucas wants to ask if Yann and Emma are back together again or if they’re just friends, or if they’re trying to work out their issues. But then Lucas remembers that he and Yann aren’t friends anymore. Lucas has no right to ask questions about Yann’s love life, so he keeps his mouth shut and says nothing as Yann waves quickly before he takes off. 

Thankfully Lucas keeps a scarf in his locker. He wraps the scarf around his neck and hopes that it covers up Antonio’s vampire bites. Lucas checks his reflection in the tiny mirror in his locker. He lets out a silent curse when he notices that his eyes look a bit glassy. Why the fuck does he have to get all emotional now? It’s stupid. It’s so damn stupid. But Yann had seemed so caring, and it had tugged at all of Lucas’s heartstrings. It was nice to have someone who cared about him, someone who was concerned about him instead of the other way around. Because it was always the other way around. 

Lucas quickly pinches the sensitive skin on the back of his hand hard enough to bruise. The physical pain is a welcome distraction from the emotional pain that he’s feeling. 

It’s rare that he replaces emotional pain with physical pain, he usually turns to some kind of substance to help relieve his emotional pain, but he can’t exactly get high in the school bathroom. Or could he?

Lucas quickly shakes his head to get rid of that thought. It was tempting for sure, and he still had some stuff left from the day before. He could just go into the bathroom, swallow a pill and become numb and just forget about everything from Yann’s concerned look to the fact that his home was a mess and that his mother was an even bigger mess. Lucas can’t help but think of his mom. He wonders what she’s doing, if she’s safe and if he should call her. 

His breathing speeds up its one of the tell-tale signs than he’s close to having a panic attack. He needs to get away. He’s in a busy corridor, the absolute worst place to freak out. He tries to focus on his breathing as he rushes to the nearest bathroom. 

The bathroom is empty. All the stall doors are open, and there is no one by the sinks. Lucas grabs the edges of a sink and leans down slightly. He’s trying to get his breathing back to normal when he hears the door open and it startles him enough to make him jump. 

And as if Lucas’s life couldn’t get more epically fucked up, the asshole Eric has to walk in. 

“I want my wallet back,” Eric says in a tone that sends chills up Lucas’s spine. 

Lucas’s heart is racing a mile a minute, but he tries to look indifferent. “Your what?” he asks. 

“Don’t play dumb,” Eric says through gritted teeth and moves closer to Lucas. “I had it. Then I met you, and then all of a sudden it was gone. Don’t you think that’s a bit strange?”

“Look, I don’t have your wallet,” Lucas says and tries to sound nonchalant. 

Eric snorts. “I want my money back, and I want it paid back in full with interest.”

Lucas is just about to open his mouth when Eric forcefully grabs a hold of his head and pushes him down, forcing Lucas down to his knees. 

“You can start now,” Eric says and unzips his pants. 

Lucas barely registers the sound of the door opening, but he can hear Emma’s voice yelling something. 

Eric smirks and turns around. “Honey this is the men’s room, get the fuck out.”

Emma looks at Lucas and their eyes meet. “Lucas is coming with me,” she says, and her voice is firm. 

Eric smirks and zips up before he hooks an arm around Lucas and drags him up onto his feet. “Of course. He’s free to do whatever he wants.”

Lucas walks on wobbly feet over to Emma, who is still standing by the door and staring angrily at Eric. She puts an arm around Lucas and leads him out of the bathroom. They walk down the corridor without saying anything. 

Once they’re outside Emma wraps her arms around Lucas and pulls him in close. It takes everything for Lucas not to break down right then and there.

She pulls back after a few seconds, but she’s still holding onto him. 

“Lucas, what did I just walk into?” she asks and looks him right in the eyes. 

Lucas doesn’t know what to say. He hasn’t even had time to process everything yet. He shudders as he thinks about what would’ve happened if Emma hadn’t walked in. Although, he knows that Eric isn’t done with him yet. 

“I saw you in the corridor, and you didn’t look well so I followed you from afar. Then I saw that son of a bitch Eric walk into the bathroom and I just got this bad feeling,” Emma says in rushed words. 

“It’s nothing,” Lucas mumbles. 

“Lucas, I care about you. You were never just my boyfriend’s best friend. I always considered us friends,” Emma says. 

Lucas doesn’t know how to talk without falling apart so he just stares down at the ground.

“Yann told me that you had injuries,” she says quietly. 

Lucas looks up at her. 

“Did Eric hit you?” she asks. 

Lucas shakes his head. 

“Lucas, we have to talk to the headmaster,” Emma says and rubs Lucas’s shoulders. 

Lucas can’t take it anymore. He can’t take Emma’s or Yann’s concern. Where the fuck were they when Lucas needed them? Where were they when Lucas sat up all night watching over his mother, crying and with no one to call? 

Lucas forcefully shrugs off Emma’s hands from his shoulders. 

“Lucas?” she says, but Lucas just turns around and leaves. 

Emma does attempt to stop him from walking away, but he just removes her hand from his arm. 

He doesn’t need to be mollycoddled, he needs money – quickly. So he does something he had sworn not to do ever again - he texts Charles. 

I’ll take you up on that offer. Lucas texts. 

Charles calls back. Charles never calls back, he’s more of a text guy. 

“I know you would,” Charles says and Lucas can practically hear him smirk. 

“Tonight?” Lucas asks and bites his lip. 

“Someone’s eager,” Charles laughs. “Yeah, there is a party tonight. Some new guys are coming. You should socialize with them, get to know them.”

Lucas swallows. “Where and when?”

“I’ll send someone to pick you up. Keep your phone on,” Charles says before he hangs up. 

…..

It’s almost 11 PM. Lucas has already moved back most of the furniture back to their original places, he’s also made dinner that no one ate and changed into a pair of black skinny jeans and a long-sleeved maroon sweater. 

His mother is sitting on the couch, staring at the TV, but she probably has no idea what she’s actually watching. Lucas knows that blank stare in his mother’s eyes, it means that she’s lost in her own little world. Lucas’s heart aches as he watches his mother. She’s not always like this. Sometimes she’s the person that Lucas is missing so much right now. 

His cell phone makes a sound and it startles him. He already knows who it is, so he takes a deep breath before he looks at the screen. 

Your car should be there in less than five. Go downstairs. 

Lucas gets in the zone. When he’s in the zone he doesn’t feel scared, he doesn’t feel nervous and he definitely doesn’t back out from something no matter how fucking scared he is. He grabs his jacket and heads downstairs. 

He spots the car immediately. It’s the same white fancy-ass car that used to drive him to parties back when he first met Charles. He says nothing when gets into the backseat. The driver, Theo, one of Charles’s friends turns around in his seat and greets Lucas. Lucas doesn’t respond, he just looks out the window as they drive through the city. The bright coloured lights light up the city, painting it in beautiful neon colours. Lucas loves taking walks in the city, just walking around with no specific plan, just drifting around until the drugs or alcohol kick in and calm his nerves.

After what feels like forever, the car stops. They’re out of the city now. The beautiful and colourful city lights are gone and it’s just darkness except from a lonely street light here and there. Lucas gets out of the car and takes one look at the large old house in front of him and he immediately recognizes it. He’s been here before. Although he doesn’t remember much of the inside, he was drunk and high the last time he was here, but remembers some things. 

He hears the music and the voices coming from the inside. It’s an older song, and the beat is kind of slow. It’s not some techno beat or rap or hip hop. The song is from at least a decade ago. Lucas knows what that means. This is not a party for drunken teenagers. This is a more mature party. 

“Charles is waiting on the inside,” Theo says and motions for Lucas to follow him. 

They walk into the house and Lucas scans the crowd as they walk into a large living room. People are sitting on sofas, chairs and some are just standing in small groups. It’s mostly men, but there are some women. They men are all around 40 to 50 years old, and the women are significantly younger. They’re sipping on champagne and wine and laughing. Fake laughing. Lucas clenches his fists and reminds himself to stay in the zone. He grabs a glass of champagne from one of the tables and downs it quickly. 

No one barely even throws them a glance but Theo greets some of the men politely. They walk through the house until they reach a room. The smoke hangs heavy in the air. Lucas catches the smell of cigars. Definitely a more mature crowd. 

Charles is standing by the window, cigar in hand. A man in a tailored suit is sitting on a small futon, with his back towards them, but he immediately turns around as soon as he hears someone enter the room. 

Charles casually walks up to Lucas and puts an arm around him. 

“Rousseau, meet my friend that I was talking to you about,” Charles says and the man smiles, but he doesn’t get out of his seat. Lucas knows that type. The type who wants to be the alpha male and have everyone come to him instead of the other way around. 

Two can play that game. Charles motions for Lucas to take a seat next to the Rousseau dude, but Lucas doesn’t move. He has never been an escort and never will be. Charles grits his teeth together and motions for Lucas to take a seat on the futon. 

It’s no secret that Lucas likes sex, and if he can get laid and get paid then that’s even better. But that doesn’t mean that he’s just going to have sex with anyone who offers him money. Lucas has standards, okay? 

He glances at Rousseau’s wedding ring that he hasn’t even bothered to take off. 

Lucas smirks. “Charles, what happened to my regulars? Tony? Zach? And that guy with red hair, what was his name again?” 

Charles looks like he’s done with Lucas’s bull shit. “Enough,” he says through gritted teeth. 

Rousseau looks like someone just has told him no for the first time ever, and now he doesn’t know how to handle it. 

Lucas turns to Rousseau. “How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking? 45? 50?”

Rousseau’s jaw drops. “Forty-three,” he manages to answer. 

“See, I’m 17, and I have no fucking interest in sleeping with and old guy. Now, thirty-something I can deal with, but not 43,” Lucas casually leans against the wall. “Now, Charles, bring me someone who’s not so close to the retirement age and I will make him very happy.”

Rousseau has had enough, he gets up and starts swearing, but Lucas doesn’t pay any attention to him. Rousseau is nothing but a petulant man-child. 

Charles looks like he’s contemplating his next move. Lucas says nothing, he just smirks, because he knows this is one battle he’s going to win. 

Lucas knows that he’s far too valuable for Charles to throw away. Lucas stopped going to Charles’s parties months ago, yet guys still ask for him because they miss him. 

“Theo, take him to the next room,” Charles says and waves his hand. 

Theo, who had remained silent up until this point, nods. “Of course Sir.”

The 43-year-old man-child just continued his temper-tantrum as Lucas left the room.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a busy couple of weeks, but I'm back to writing now. Thank you so much for reading. It means a lot to me.

Theo leads Lucas into another room. It looks like the kind of room that rich people would use to host their fancy dinner parties. There’s a huge table in the middle of the room, and the chandelier that’s hanging above it looks expensive as fuck. There are only a few people in the room. That’s when Lucas spots one of his old regulars, Zach, sitting on a chair with his back to Lucas. Lucas breathes sigh of relief. Zach was familiar. Back when Lucas was working on a regular basis, Zach always asked for him and no one else. Even when Lucas stopped working, Zach had begged him to come back, even told him that he’d pay double the usual rate. Zach was a decent guy, he didn’t use violence, didn’t force Lucas to do anything that he wasn’t comfortable with and he never tried to Lucas to lower the price like most guys did. Plus, he always made sure that Lucas got off. It wasn’t all about Zach’s pleasure. 

Just as Lucas was about to walk up to Zach, he notices that there is a man sitting in Zach’s lap. The man is shirtless and Zach’s hands are all over the man’s body. And just like that, Lucas knows that he has been replaced. 

It doesn’t matter. Zach was never a friend. Zach only wanted to get laid, and Lucas had been his whore – nothing more. It’s not like Zach would stop having sex when Lucas stopped working. 

Lucas isn’t stupid, he knows all of this. He does. And that’s why he’s not going to get jealous, heart-broken or something like that, because that would be stupid. So fucking stupid, and Lucas isn’t stupid. 

Theo motions for a man to come over. The man looks like he’s in his early thirties, he has jeans and a t-shirt on, and he doesn’t look anything special. 

“Lucas, this is Daniel, you met him at Charles’s New Year’s Eve party, remember?” Theo says. 

Lucas had been so fucking drunk at Charles’s New Year’s Eve party. His mother had been hospitalized and Lucas was depressed and drank anything that he could get his hands on, and at Charles’s parties liquor was everywhere. 

That means Lucas can’t remember shit, and he definitely cannot remember Daniel. 

Lucas flashes his best smile. “Daniel, of course I remember you. I never forget a handsome face.”

That makes Daniel smile so big that his cheeks must hurt. 

……

Daniel is the kind of guy that wants to pretend. He wants to pretend that he’s not paying for sex, and that what he and Lucas has is real. That it’s pure love and all of that bullshit. Lucas is fine with that. He can pretend. He can pretend that the envelope full of cash is just a gift, as Daniel calls it. 

Lucas can moan, tip his head all the way back and let his eyes roll to the back of his head, and he can smile sweetly. He can do all of those things, because he’s good at playing pretend. And Daniel just eats it up. 

That’s the thing. Lucas is fucking awesome at making other people happy. 

Afterwards Daniel tips generously, and makes Lucas promise that they’ll see each other again – soon. 

“Of course,” Lucas smiles sweetly and kisses Daniel. 

……….

Lucas isn’t in a rush, and he isn’t the one to turn down an opportunity to get high for free, so when Daniel asks him to stay and join him for a smoke he readily complies. 

Daniel takes a puff and exhales. Lucas is enjoying the nice buzz from the weed and alcohol that he has going on. He’s still in bed with Daniel, he hasn’t even bothered to get dressed, but Daniel isn’t one of those creepy guys that wants to go a second round for free. No, Daniel seems content with just laying next to Lucas, getting high and enjoying the silence. Lucas thinks that he could get used to this, and that Daniel definitely has the potential of becoming a regular. 

Suddenly Theo bursts into the room, looking out of breath and in a hurry. 

“What the fuck?!” Daniel yells and Lucas just groans. 

Without saying a word, Theo rushes over to the bed and unapologetically grabs Lucas’s arm and yanks him out of bed. 

Both Lucas and Daniel start to protest, and Lucas even starts to kick and scream, but Theo keeps Lucas’s arm in a vise grip as he drags him out of the room through a backdoor. 

“The police are here. Run down the corridor, take the stairs down to the cellar, there is a locked door and the code is 9943, get it?” Theo says in a rush. 

Lucas nods even though he barely just got what Theo had just said. But Lucas did hear the word police, and he knows that he needs to run. 

So he runs around, but his head is spinning and his vision is cloudy and he holds onto the rail as he runs down the stairs. Then he steps on something sharp, and he vaguely registers the pain in his foot, but he keeps on running but the pain only gets worse and then he slips. 

…….

When Lucas wakes up the first thing he notices is that he is in a hospital. He doesn’t know how he ended up in a hospital, but his first thought is that he needs to get out of there. He is just about to yank the IV out of his arm when a doctor and two police officers walk in. 

“Shit,” Lucas mumbles and stops what he’s doing and lays down in bed. 

“So, Lucas Lallemant, age 17,” one of the police officers says. “We found your wallet and your ID.”

Lucas doesn’t even know what to say so he just takes a deep breath. 

“Since you’re considered a minor, we can’t question you without a parent or a legal guardian. Do you have someone we can contact?” the officer asked. 

“I haven’t done anything. I just came for the party,” Lucas says, hoping he sounds trustworthy enough for the officers to just let him go, even though he already knows it probably won’t be that easy. 

“A lot of people come to those kind of parties,” the other officer grunts. 

“Like I said, do you have someone we can call?” the first officer says. 

“My mother is schizophrenic,” Lucas replies, and hopes that it will put an end to the conversation. 

It doesn’t, because the officers look completely unfazed. 

“And your father?” the first officer asks.

“It’s complicated,” Lucas mumbles. 

“Lucas, we have known about these parties for a while,” the second officer says.

The first officer nods and Lucas can see him going through a file of papers. 

“The problem is that they change locations all the time. No one at these parties is willing to testify, we can’t do much, other than arrest some people for possession of drugs. To these people that just a slap on the wrist. They pay their fines, get out and that’s it,” the second officer continues. “But this time was different.”

“Look, I already told you that I was just there to party, have fun. I haven’t done anything illegal,” Lucas groans and feels frustrated with the officers. 

The first officer looks Lucas directly in the eyes. “Do you know who you are protecting?” 

Lucas snorts. Charles sells drugs, so what? He’s not the only one who does that. The drugs are fairly priced, they’re not laced with some shitty stuff that makes his customers go crazy. Charles hasn’t forced Lucas to jump into bed with strangers, Lucas came to him, not the other way around. 

“Did you know that we found a fifteen-year-old boy in bed with a fifty-year-old man?” the first officer asks. 

Lucas doesn’t say anything. He’s in shock. He had thought that he was the youngest one there. 

“Did you know that the same fifteen-year-old boy was so high on drugs that he needed acute care?” the first officers asks. “We showed up just in time.” 

“Not to mention that there were some young men with serious injuries, because they had been severely beaten,” the other officer fills in. 

Lucas just shakes his head. The tears burn behind his eyelids. 

“Now, do you have someone we can call?” the officer asks. “Because we are not going to let you go. This is not going to be just the regular slap on the wrist, this is now a criminal investigation.” The officer looks at Lucas. “You do realize that we have already found your father’s address, and that we can have a car there within minutes?” 

“But considering the situation, we wanted to talk to you first,” the doctor finally speaks up. “This is a sensitive topic, but how do you think your parents are going to react to this?” 

Lucas doesn’t even know what to say to that. He’s not sure his mother would even be able to take it all in. And he hasn’t seen his father in a long time, and now they’re going to meet again in the company of doctors and police officers? Lucas has no idea what to say. 

“Would you be in danger if your parents find out?” the doctor asks. 

Lucas shakes his head. “My dad isn’t abusive. Has never laid a hand on me.”

“Sometimes things change,” the doctor says. 

Lucas thinks of his dad. His dad has always been scared of conflict, scared of upsetting anyone, scared of stepping on anyone’s toes. 

The officers look like they’re running out of patience. 

“Look, we’ve got a lot of people to talk to,” the second officer says, and Lucas knows what that means, it’s time to call his dad. 

……

There is absolutely nothing Lucas can do to prepare himself for the conversation that he is about to have with his dad. Lucas doesn’t even know what his dad is going to hate the most, the fact that his son does drugs or the fact that his son is a whore. 

Lucas never thinks of himself as a whore, a prostitute, he doesn’t even use the fancier term escort. He’s none of those things, he just enjoys sex and if he can get paid to do his favourite hobby, then why not? 

Deep down he knows that he isn’t completely happy when it comes to his paid hobby. He thinks back to the last time he slept with some random dude for money, before he took a break from his so-called paid hobby. The memory isn’t a fond one. The man had wanted to keep going even though they had already fucked twice. The man had claimed that he had paid for a full hour, and there had still been ten minutes left. 

Lucas had felt so damn cheap and used. The man hadn’t started out as an asshole, he had been flirty, funny and pretty good in bed. For a while Lucas had thought that they had something good going on there. Then the man had reminded Lucas that he was a paying customer and Lucas was nothing more than a useful body. 

Lucas sits up in his narrow hospital bed and leans back against the cool wall. His thoughts drift back to his dad. Lucas would be lying if he said that he didn’t care what his father thought about him. 

Their father-son relationship had been rocky for so long, and now with this whole situation, Lucas knows that their relationship is definitely doomed now. There is no way his dad is going to recover from this. Lucas is always going to be a drug-addicted whore. And his own dad is going to look at him with disgust. 

Bile rises in his throat. He’s going to be sick so he grabs the nearest trash can and just vomits over and over again until there is nothing left in his stomach. Then he starts dry-heaving, he doubles over in pain and fucking cries because he can’t control his own body anymore. 

And that’s how his dad finds him minutes later. 

His dad says nothing, he just wraps his arms around him and pull him close. 

Lucas’s first instinct is to apologize. Apologize that he’s such a fucked up son. But he doesn’t. He gets angry, because who the fuck does his father think that he is? The man hasn’t called in months, and now he just shows up and hugs Lucas like he’s Father of the Year. Fuck him. Lucas doesn’t need him, he’s been doing fine without his dad. 

So Lucas uses what little strength he has left in his body to push his father away. 

His father looks hurt, but Lucas doesn’t care. Lucas is hurting too, and has for a very long time. 

“You can leave again, they just need you to sign some papers so they can talk to me without getting sued,” Lucas mutters. 

Francis Lallemant’s jaw drops. “No,” he shakes his head vehemently. “No,” he says sternly. “You are going to tell them that this is all a big mistake. Because it was. When social services showed up and said that my son….that my son….had been involved in,” he pauses and takes a deep breath, “that MY son had been a part of some kind of…prostitution ring. I don’t believe it. They’ve got the wrong boy!” 

Lucas says nothing. 

Francis Lallemant gets even more upset. “Tell me that they’ve made a mistake. That they have mistaken you for someone else. Tell me!” he cries desperately. 

Lucas remains silent. 

Francis is shaking now. “Because I know my son. I know you Lucas! I know that you love romantic movies, romantic novels and you love weddings. I mean you had your whole wedding planned out when you were five years old for fuck’s sake!”

Lucas can’t speak. He had refused to think about romance for a long time. That part of him that loved romantic stuff had been shut off. 

One of the doctors comes into the room and tries to calm Francis. Lucas just stares at the wall in front of him. 

The doctor leads Francis out of the room. And Lucas is left alone.


End file.
